As it is generally known, the Internet of Things (IoT) is the network of physical “things” that are embedded with electronics, software, and sensors, and that also have network connectivity. The “things” in the IoT include a wide variety of devices that are capable of collecting and exchanging data. Examples of IoT devices include “smart” devices such as vehicles (e.g. cars, trucks, buses, etc.), household appliances (e.g. refrigerators, clothes washing machines, clothes dryers, dishwashers, etc.), medical devices (e.g. heart monitoring implants), sensors (e.g. thermostats), and many other specific types of devices that operate to collect useful data, and can autonomously communicate the collected data with one or more other IoT devices.
According to current estimates, in the near future there will be greater than 25 billion IoT devices installed across the world. These devices communicate with each other, with humans, and with various different applications. While the availability of a large number of autonomously communicating, smart devices opens up many opportunities to improve the people's lives, a significant security challenge also arises, since many IoT devices have access to personal information, and/or are capable of performing actions that negatively impact the operation of other IoT devices, and/or of performing actions that negatively impact the lives of people.